Operation Pocket Money

Port mining in North Vietnam was first proposed by the US military to US President Johnson in 1964 . The implementation of this plan would deprive North Vietnam of 85-90% of imports, and its own economy was not able to support the conduct of the war in South Vietnam . However, the mining plan was rejected by Johnson for political reasons, primarily because of fear of a harsh reaction from the USSR , especially if Soviet merchant ships would be harmed in the ports.

In the spring of 1972, North Vietnam launched the largest offensive in the south since the outbreak of war. After his initial successes and the capture by the North Vietnamese forces of the city of Kuangchi (the capital of the province of the same name), President Nixon ordered the mining of the harbors of North Vietnam.

Operation Pocket Money began on the morning of May 8, 1972. A-6 and A-7 aircraft, under the guise of fighters and two cruisers, performed air mining of the main North Vietnamese port of Haiphong . Mines were activated five days later, which allowed foreign ships to safely leave the harbor. By May 12, the ports of Haiphong, Kampha, Hongai, Vinh, Dongkhoy , Thanh Hoa and other American aviation had put up 11 thousand sea mines.

Operation Pocket Money has achieved its goals. Port mining led to significant difficulties in delivering military and civilian cargo to North Vietnam, as a result of which the Vietnamese side was forced to sit at the negotiating table ^[1] . The Vietnamese were not able to find effective ways of mine clearing, and therefore managed to include in the Paris agreement on a ceasefire and restore peace in Vietnam ( 1973 ) a clause that mine clearance should be carried out by the American side. The USSR and China formally protested in connection with the mining, but the operation did not affect Nixon’s visit to the USSR at the end of May.

• Dotsenko V. Fleets in local conflicts of the second half of the XX century. - Moscow, St. Petersburg: AST, Terra Fantastica, 2001 .-- S. 512.

• Death coordinates